Brazil's soluble coffee tax could rise 15% to enter the US
The USDR preliminary report, which recommends taxing certain Brazilian products at 25%, has extra weight for Brazilian instant coffee. The item was not exempt during the US trade investigation, which began last year, and currently carries a 10% tariff.
If the directive from the American commercial entity is effective on July 15th, the new 25% tax on the item will come into effect, which tends to make exports to Americans more difficult.
Historically, the USA leads purchases of instant coffee from Brazil to supply its industry.
According to the executive director of Cecafé (Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council), Marcos Matos, the moment is once again accelerating intersectoral action to develop a bilateral agreement with the American parties. He defends negotiations focused on expanding the exception list to strengthen the partnership with the USA.
"Basically the American government is saying to Brazil: come and negotiate, let's make a bilateral agreement. More than ever, we have to do great negotiation and work with both governments, the USA and Brazil, to reach an agreement that is fair for both sides", he emphasized to CNN Agro.
In return, adds Matos, Brazil has a trade deficit with the Americans to "put at the negotiating table". "We have the possibility of discussing the exception list. The main objective, now, is to expand it and include instant coffee."
Under normal conditions, the United States is Brazil's main coffee customer, in addition to being the country that consumes the most coffee in the world. Previously, 34% of all the grain that existed in the American territory was of Brazilian origin, among the commercial brands of that country.
"We are still suffering from the drop in exports there, from January to April, there was a 41.5% drop in sales to the country, despite the fact that green coffee, which represents more than 90% of shipments, has not been taxed since November last year", detailed Matos.
However, green coffee has not stopped being threatened, recalls the president of Cecafé, due to a complaint involving labor issues in coffee farming, which he classifies as "a major distortion and a communication error".
"We still have a complaint against forced and degrading labor at the United States Customs, which issues a specific rule that punishes the country", he says. In parallel, the entity and the Ministry of Labor are trying to prove the social sustainability of work in the coffee chain.
The moment is sensitive for analysis, as Brazil is at the beginning of the 2026/27 harvest and does not yet have a grain availability number for negotiation and, therefore, is not in the competitive stage of sales among global players.
ABICS and the National Coffee Association continue to partner with Cecafé to represent the American authorities in order to circumvent a potential larger surcharge.
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Source: CNN